Hot Springs and Ancient Ruins

We have been looking forward to visiting Pamukkale since we first googled “hot springs in Turkey” and it did not disappoint. Yesterday was our day for visiting the World Heritage Site, and we lucked out on great weather - sunny and about 16 degrees. Since leaving Greece, the weather has been less consistently good and it was cold and rainy the day before.

We knew it would be a long visit and TripAdvisor reviews advised against eating at the places on site, so we encouraged the boys to fill up at the extensive breakfast buffet at our hotel. David quickly proved that he can’t be trusted and filled his plate with sugary cookies and nothing else. We confiscated most of them and forced him to find some protein, but the only thing he would eat was some unnaturally red processed meat. It was a strange buffet...I think they try to cater to their international clientele, but picture what is served at supper around the world, not breakfast. Over the two mornings there was pasta, curry, onion rings, boiled vegetables and a salad bar, in addition to the usual Turkish things of olives, cheese, yogurt and a crazy selection of sweets including about 5 kinds of Turkish delight. There were copious amounts of hot tea and Hugh managed to down four (small) cups yesterday morning before we cut him off.

After breakfast we headed to the site (pictured opposite), which had something for everyone - ancient ruins and hot springs for Topher and I, swimming for Hugh, snails for David, and natural beauty for all of us! We spent the first couple of hours checking out the ruins and admiring the poppies and snails, who left behind silvery snail trails all over the place. David would have loved to bring a few home with him.

The area has been a place to visit and enjoy the hot springs since ancient times and there is a mixture of Roman and Byzantine ruins but they are very poorly interpreted so I can’t tell you much about them. The highlight was a

huge theatre (pictured below on opposite page) which is even more well preserved (or perhaps heavily restored) than the one at Ephesus, and the view from the top over the plains and mountains was incredible.

By this point the kids were getting impatient as we had promised hot springs. We had only a vague idea of what was available at the site, as the website isn’t great and there’s only so much TripAdvisor research I can take, but I was pretty sure there was a place to swim. We soon found the “ancient pool”, which I think was built in 2013. We had to pay an extra $35 for the four of us to swim, which is a bit steep, but we ponied up the cash and got to swim in a nice outdoor pool heated by the spring (pictured on following page).

The pool was sprinkled with bits of ancient ruins, which were fun to hang out on. The water wasn’t as hot as I would have liked, but a very pleasant 36 degrees nonetheless. We stayed in for over two hours, and the kids could have probably stayed longer. At first the pool was quite busy but then a tour bus must have left as it suddenly emptied out and we had it almost to ourselves. We had a nice visit with an older couple from Northern Ireland, who appreciated David and Hugh’s “good Ulster names”.

When we got out of the pool Hugh decided to leave his bathing suit on, although it felt chilly after the warm water. He was glad he did as, after a short peek at the museum, we headed to the travertines, which are the highlight of Pamukkale (pictured below and on following pages).

They are kind of hard to describe, but imagine a huge area of very cool white rock formations that have formed over millennia by calcium and other mineral deposits from the spring water. They have made pools of natural spring water that you can wade in as you walk down a slope through the rock formations. The pools are man made mostly, but they are covered in the same mineral deposits so they blend in almost seamlessly. It’s quite beautiful and we all had such a good time no one complained about being hungry.

It was after 4 pm by the time we were at the bottom. We walked quickly past all of the crazy touristy places (with practically cartoonish versions of Turkish restaurants) and found one not far away that was recommended by

TripAdvisor. It was a great little pide/kebab place (pictured above) across from the mosque, and we heard what I think was the first non-prerecorded call to prayer of our trip. The food was great, and although we accidentally ordered one dish too many because of a miscommunication, we managed to eat it all! We then got ice cream/sorbet for the boys, as Hugh had been wanting to try Turkish sorbet for a few days, and they were happy with it. It seemed impossibly creamy so I hope it really was dairy free. We went back to hang out at our hotel even though it was still early, as we wanted to rest up for our next day and night of travel.

On the way there we paused near a bakery and were wondering whether to buy a loaf when a van pulled up, asked if we were hungry and then handed us a plastic bag with a small loaf of bread and a plastic container of something warm. We saw them leave some at a nearby house and then drove off. The something warm turned out to be a semolina pudding made with pine nuts, and we were certainly puzzled by what had happened, but happy to taste this traditional dessert. From what I could find out about it, irmik helvasi symbolizes good luck and is traditionally made at major life events such as births, marriages, deaths, and distributed to family and friends. Apparently any life event will do including moving house or returning from army service, and even as a prayer for rain! It wasn’t the best dessert I ever tasted but at the

same time we all found it strangely compelling and couldn’t stop eating it even though we were really full.

Back at the hotel, David worked on homework and Hugh got caught up with his diary. He is often packing so much into each day that he doesn’t have energy left at bedtime to write. He’s always up for exploring and loves to listen to Topher’s geography and history lectures. He once again amused the hotel staff by taking a quick dip in the pool even though the evening had cooled off considerably. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this already but the Turks generally are very friendly and smile a lot at the boys, especially Hugh who has been patted on the head a few times.

So far today we have taken a minibus to Denizli (pictured below) to catch another bus, and as it is also a major textile centre, I was hoping to do some shopping. Unfortunately all of the textile places recommended on the Internet were closed since it is Sunday, but we still managed to make several purchases. I checked out a local shopping mall, and bought a few things at the Turkish equivalent of Walmart, then met up again with Topher and the boys.

We had lunch, again courtesy of TripAdvisor, at a very bare bones looking kebab place in a busy shopping area near the bus station. When we asked for a menu they said “no menu, just meat”, and showed us their wood oven full of roasted lamb. It was served with tomato salad and delicious fresh bread brushed with butter. It was all very good.

We also stocked up on snacks and

neck pillows for our long bus trip, and we’re now en route to Antalya, where we’ll have supper then catch an overnight bus to Goreme. Our hotel is picking us up there at 7 am tomorrow morning. Going through Antalya isn’t the most direct route to Cappadocia but it was the only route to avoid arriving in the middle of the night. I’m starting to wonder if we should have looked into flying. It’s going to be a long night, as we’ve already had a 25 minute rest stop after only 45 minutes of driving! They at least provide free snacks and tea on the bus. At the rest stop they of course had more shopping opportunities, and we picked up some donkey milk soap!